TAG Heuer’s Carrera Heuer-01 Full Black Matte Ceramic is the latest iteration of the Carrera 01 family, first introduced in March of 2015. These are Carrera watches intended to showcase the in-house TAG caliber 01, which is a 13 ligne (29.3mm) selfwinding chronograph movement with a 50-hour power reserve, running in 39 jewels at 28,800 vph. The idea behind these large (45mm) watches is to give the in-house movement a distinctive and instantly recognizable case.

This latest version is officially launching in 2017 and is a departure from the original modular case construction concept used in the first replica TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer-01. On the occasion of the launch of that watch, TAG Heuer CEO Jean-Claude Biver said, in an interview with WatchTime, that, “The design of the new Carrera is more modern that [that of] the previous models. You may not necessarily recognize it from a certain distance. It still looks a lot like a Carrera. That’s exactly what I wanted – a new case, but one that’s similar to the old one. The biggest difference between it and the older model is its modular construction. We took advantage of the technology of the Hublot Big Bang, with its modular sandwich design. These cases are produced in-house.”

By contrast, the Full Black Matte Ceramic version of the luxury replica TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer-01 uses ceramic exclusively throughout (except, of course, in the movement. The watch will be available with either a rubber strap, or with a ceramic bracelet. As with other versions of the watch, the case is a very large 45mm in diameter; construction is modular in the sense that each part is made as a separate component (eg, the lugs) but the lugs, case middle, and bezel are all ceramic; the push pieces for the chronograph as well as the crown, are black titanium carbide. Sapphire crystals with AR coating are used front and back, and the skeletonized dial from the original Heuer-01 is there as well; water resistance is 100m.

Between the all-black theme, and the size, this is despite its obvious desire to be startlingly noticeable, an almost backwards-looking watch; UKbest fake TAG Heuer all-black watches theme and large size are very much design cues from the mid-2000s (for a few years there you felt like you couldn’t swing a stick at Baselworld without hitting an all-black watch).

What isn’t reminiscent of the mid-2000s is the price: $6,300 for the bracelet model, and the same for the rubber strap model, in keeping with the strategy, under Biver, of maintaining pricing at a level appropriate to TAG Heuer’s brand history and identity.